e-ALC, 08:30:09
Narrated by: Angel Pean, Patryce Williams, & York Whitaker
Release Date: January 27, 2026
Published by: Simon & Schuster Audio
Read from: January 19-20, 2026
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received this ALC free from the publisher and Netgalley. This did nothing to influence my review!)
Content Warning: Violence, Child Abuse, Murder, Cannibalism, Sexual Content, Racism, Incest, Slavery, Gun Violence
For Readers Interested In: 2sLGBTQ+, Adult, Horror, Sparkly Covers, Racial/Ethnic DiversityIn this sinister and surreal Southern Gothic debut, a woman escapes into the uncanny woods of southern Georgia and must contend with ghosts, haints, and most dangerous of all, the truth about herself.
When Judith Rice fled her childhood home, she thought she’d severed her abusive mother’s hold on her. She didn’t have a plan or destination, just a desperate need to escape. Drawn to the forests of southern Georgia, Jude finds shelter in a house as haunted by its violent history as she is by her own.
Jude embraces the eccentricities of the dilapidated house, soothing its ghosts and haints, honoring its blood-soaked land. And over the next thirteen years, Jude blossoms from her bitter beginnings into a wisewoman, a healer.
But her hard-won peace is threatened when an enigmatic woman shows up on her doorstep. The woman is beautiful but unsettling, captivating but uncanny. Ensnared by her desire for this stranger, Jude is caught off guard by brutal urges suddenly simmering beneath her skin. As the woman stirs up memories of her escape years ago, Jude must confront the calls of violence rooted in her bloodline.
Haunting and thought-provoking, On Sunday She Picked Flowers explores retribution, family trauma, and the power of building oneself back up after breaking down.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was a really weird book lol I REALLY need to start reading the synopsis. I say this all the time but this time I mean it! I had no idea where this was going but I heard it was horror by a Black woman and that was enough for me. And then I read this and it was so much more than what I expected.
The thing that caught me off guard was the cannibalism. I was not prepared. There’s nothing in the synopsis (now that I’m reading it) that would have tipped me off about, but yeah it scared me lol I’m not a huge fan of body horror because it actually scares me. Idk how to explain it without sounding crazy, so I’ll just leave it at I picture it happening to me and my body and that’s all I need to freak myself out lol But this paired with the monster that’s depicted did me good.
I know this was about more than just the horror element, so I did want to touch on her as a character. I liked her and I respected the fuck outta her. She did not have to take that from her mom as long as she did. And I truly thought she was provoked when things went down in the kitchen. But yes she did take everything too far. And continued to. I truly felt bad for her journey there because she didn’t deserve that, but she was cruel to others as well. As for the other characters, her aunts tripped me out. One of them pissed me off. I won’t say what she did because of spoilers, but it really was annoying tf out of me. But I was glad that she had at least one small piece of her old self.
This was a hella weird book. It actually came out in 2020 but I’ve never heard of it. I’m not sure I would have ever picked it up, let alone heard about it if it hadn’t had a re-release. So let this serve as a reminder to buy and even just library request back lists, debut books, romance, thrillers, mid-lists and small time authors. Read them all. You might find something like this that you never would have found otherwise.
Overall, I give this
